Month: December 2017

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Watchword for 2018

So You know how I feel about New Year’s Eve, how I feel about rites of passage in general. I like them. I like assessing and planning. I like looking back, looking around, and looking forward. I like keywords and watchwords. God, do You have a word for our planet? For our country?

Love One Another. Everything falls apart without that.

Love is the oil that lubricates every relationship, that soothes every wound, that softens every scar. Love’s oil gives light, gives heat, gives fragrance, and transforms ordinary days into oases of great beauty and joy. It’s the one song the stars dance to, and the waves on the shore. You can never have too much love or give too much love. Love has the power to transform any situation, bring calm out of chaos, and give sight to the blind, especially those who are blind to others. Love is always in season, always in style, never grows old.

You say you want to change the world? Love one another. Begin and end with Love. End your year, start your year. Let love undergird every decision. Do all from love, with love, by love. It’s another way of saying, do all connected to Me. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it is connected to the Vine, neither can you, unless you are connected to Me.

You want fruit? You want impact? You want influence? You want a better world? Choose Me. Choose Love.

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Knowing

Lord, here is a concern. I don’t want to be deceived, and I sure don’t want to deceive others. So I write that and I think, the blurt is, what if I am just talking to myself, deceiving myself this is You, or worse? I think about the deception in Genesis, an egocentric focus, the whole first lie, you will be like God…

You are already like God—all humans are, in the sense that I made humanity to be spiritually sourced in Me. You are all meant to be “like God” – to walk in love and in peace with one another. That is not the stumbling block phrase. “Knowing good and evil” – that is the stumbling block phrase.

Remember “knowing” wasn’t used just for intellectual understanding but for intimate experience. I, the Lord, recognize evil but I don’t “know” evil. I do not experience evil in Myself, in My choices. The instant result in the Garden was shame (not-like God), blame (not-like God) and hiding from God and each other (not-like God). That is not wisdom. That was the lie, that experiencing evil would make humanity wise, make humanity more divine. But no.

I have spent all of human history in every culture trying to undo that lie, trying to restore individuals to Who I Am, to who each one can be in Me. Your lyric is right—you can’t hold My Fullness, but you can do your part. And your part is to shine and to inspire others to find their connection to Me.

 

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Refraction

We went to see The Last Jedi yesterday. What is that verse, Lord—Light shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it?

The least light transforms darkness, alters its very essence. You can dim or intensify light, but as long as there is light, any light at all, by definition there is no darkness. Your mission isn’t to fight darkness or rebuke darkness or overpower darkness or overcome darkness. Your mission is to shine light—that simple, that profound. Your mission is to light up your part of My world. All you have to do, to transform any darkness, is shine.

How do you do that? You forgive. You give another chance. You say please and thank you. You look for, actively seek, the good and true. You love. You believe. You hope.

If you feel your light is dimming, if discouragement or fear or worry are diminishing your ability to shine brightly, then shine dimly and bring your dim resolve to Me, and let Me reignite your fire once again. You don’t have to be loud or showy in order to shine brightly. You just have to be present and committed.

 Committed?

Committed to love, and to faith and to hope. Don’t lose hope. More lights flicker out of despair than out of anger.

You said I was, I could be, a hope-healer.

Yes, that is one of your names. Like Me, you have many names. You all do. So open the curtains, draw back the blinds. Let the light in and you will also let the light out.

Like breathing! Only breathing changes oxygen into carbon dioxide.

Each of you is like a prism. Receive My Light—let My Light refract through your life into the colors that will touch those around you. That is why some are called to be prophets or poets, some are called to be teachers or parents, some are called to be apostles or builders, some are given gifts of healing s doctors and nurses. Some–like you–are visionaries and heralds, always seeing the new possibilities, always believing for the best. Just as you have many names, each of you has many gifts, many ways to refract and shine My Light in and through your individual lives.

Rainbow light! It’s my favorite!

Of course it is. That is because one of your gifts is to see and encourage the individual gifts in those around you. It’s one way you shine, by beaming your light of understanding into the hearts of others, so they can see themselves through My eyes.

Thank You, Lord. Thank You so much.

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Life Movies

Lord, we started talking last night as I was falling asleep, and I really need to re-start that conversation.

I was telling you not to close your heart off, but to stay open, and vulnerable.

Lord, someone gave me that same advice years ago. I heard it then as a command to endure.

That may have been that person’s meaning, but it is not Mine. I never condone or excuse abuse or mistreatment. But when you are hurting inside, for yourself or for others, you tend to wall yourself in and work harder as if that will help. It won’t. It will only add more physical fatigue to your emotional weariness.

The truth is, I didn’t create humanity—or the planet itself—for sorrow, sickness, loss or death. I created for life, for I Am the Giver of Life. I created for Love, for I Am Love. My entire nature and being is Love. Out of Life and Love flow joy and peace and kindness and goodness—which you call the fruits of My Spirit.

So when humans encounter the elements of life they were not made for, they react. Some become stoic, so nothing affects them. Some become narcissistic so everything affects them or revolves around them. Some become addicted to pastimes or to substances to numb or distract them from which is too hard, too painful, to bear alone. But you humans were not made to bear such suffering, not in the beginning, and certainly not alone.

You said recently when a situation troubles me, to surround it, to picture it surrounded, like effervescent life, I can’t remember exactly what You said, and I don’t know how to do that. And I need to. Right now.

Imagine you are a movie director. You can film the scene any way you wish. You have an unlimited budget and any props or costumes you need. You have the world as your set. And you have Angels as part of your extras in your casting of characters. How would you film the next scene? What kind of movie would you produce and direct? Set that as your intention and prayer for them.

Lord, aren’t You the Producer and Director?

Sadly, no. People assume so, and that assumption has led to much additional sorrow and misunderstanding. Each of you is your own director. I direct only where and when I Am invited to do so. Oh, I try to interject into the plot, to give warning about where the storyline is going, or to give encouragement in character development. But the human power of choice is always in your hands. That is why I ask you to pray My Will Be Done. It is not a given, in this world—only in the next.

So take a few minutes. Imagine the scene re-written. Then offer that, as prayer. I Am the God of Reconciliation. Picture a peaceful resolution to all that troubles you.

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Open Doors

Thank You, sweet God. I needed to remember what I know. I needed to look ahead and look around with that perspective. Now what would You say?

Praise is a Key, a big Key to a Big Door. Not because I have a big ego that needs stoking like a fire with the fuel of your devotion, but because My whole heart is devoted to you. To all of My creation. I love nothing more than blessing those I love. Your praise, your trust, your recognition of Who I Am is what allows those blessings to flow. All the locks are on your side of the door. There are no locks whatsoever on My side. Your choices can create barriers, and those barriers sadden Me. Yes, just as with Jesus’ physical body, your earthly choices have the power to wound My Heart. A harsh word wounds My Heart. Lives devoted to destruction, theirs and others, wounds My Heart. My Great Work of Creation is ongoing, for I Am always creating new chances, new possibilities, new outcomes for everyone on the planet. Your steady choice to believe and receive has swung open the door for you and your life many times.

Now let’s take the next step. If you can commit to what you know of Me again this morning, we can take the door itself off its hinges. The door will transform into a bridge across to My Country. You don’t ever have to go back or even look back to that existence where you questioned or doubted My Love for you or My “plan for your life”—which is expanding blessing, just as the countryside opens up before you. Like Lazarus, like Jesus, you can experience a resurrection, but you still have to make the choice to come out of the Cave. I Am inviting you into yet a larger life.

How can this be? you ask. You can live without fear. You can live without anxiety. You can live without upset. All of those are cave-dweller mindsets. You can live without worry. You can live with confidence, live in assurance, and experience daily, hourly synchronicity. I will never withhold from you any true blessing. Trust My timing to be perfect. “Yes” to praise frees you. Begin again to see Beyond.

This is how time-travel works for you. See the future I promise as real in your now. See it for everything you care about, your business, your family, your friends. See it for anyone who struggles. You don’t have to tell Me what you see of the struggle, unless doing so helps you release it. Instead, let Me tell you and show you what I see so you can see with Me.

This is the point where you’ve always drawn back before. “What must I sacrifice?” you thought. “What must I give up?” “What must I suffer?” These are false questions and they lead back to false gods, not to Me.

Live a life so connected with Me, so overflowing with blessing, that it magnetizes others to good. Let your very presence cause them to open their door to Me, which is how healing happens. You will have to give up the world’s perspectives of fear and of anxiety in order to fully inhabit the life I have for you. You will have to give up an obsessive concern for what others think of you in order to wear well the mantle of what I think of you.

You are thinking, how do I begin. You’ve already begun. You’ve walked a long distance already. You can jog now. You can run now. You are not a beginner. You know this.

You have pictured your life lately like a finite water bucket that others dig down into a well, and draw from what you perceive as your small, leaky reserves of time and energy.

You are a river in Me, the Great River. Live connected and experience an unending flow.

Living in the flow rejuvenates you and it increases your capacity to flow. That is what we are doing this morning. We are excavating in the Spirit. Like a mighty Canyon River, we are carving new pathways of possibility—I Am, by My Power and Intention, and you are, by the power of your agreement. Alleluia, alleluia. I have waited long for this day. The last boulders are tumbling downstream and the floodgates are flung wide open. Alleluia, alleluia.

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A Time To Speak

Lord, how can I know when to speak and when to keep silent, when these words are meant only for me, and when they are meant for others, too? There are times I have shared in the past and then thought, I should have just kept my mouth shut.

You mean, should you have just kept My Mouth shut?

Here is a hard truth you know intellectually and biblically, but you are going to have to learn to live with it emotionally: not everyone receives. Not everyone hears. Not everyone wants glad tidings. Some much prefer judgment. Some much prefer hiding in their own darkness. And some—like feral cats—will hiss and even bite before they let themselves be loved.

You have to decide this work is worth rejection, that you are not in this to become popular, but to be a beacon of light in stormy times.

Lord, why wouldn’t everyone want the light to shine in a storm?

Almost everyone—unless someone is mentally ill—wants the light to shine in specific ways and specific places. My Light shines everywhere, on everyone. And that is a hard concept for some, who live by rank-ordering and who cannot conceive of a love, or favor, that is not based on merits. It seems unfair somehow to them.

Lord, like the parable of the workers hired late in the day?

Exactly.

 

 

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Name Me

So, I had a Christmas word for yesterday, what about today? What would You say about today?

Think about all the ways I Named Myself, all the ways I Am Named, in your scriptures:

Word

Light

Bread

Good Shepherd

Living Water

Truth

Way

Life

God-With-Us

Prince of Peace

Wonderful Counselor

You think of them as titles. What if you thought of them like nicknames, like affectionate nicknames: You say, honey, dear, sweetie. You call your kitty by her name but you also call her Sugar, same as you did with Freddi, your fox. You called Mikey, Mijou, as an affectionate nickname. Nicknames imply a close, special relationship. Even if someone becomes known only by a nickname, the origins of the name were always in relationship with someone special. So think again about all My Nicknames. Take the first one the Gospel of John uses. Word.

Think how you would use Word as a nickname in your relationship, your very personal relationship with Me. Ah, the writer of you is smiling now. Or Light. Can you picture this conversation—

Me, God: Hey, it’s Me, Word. Grab your coat and come outside, I have something I want to talk to you about.

You, Eve: Ok, Word, Ok, Light, I’m coming. Are You going to enlighten me?

Me, God: Yes, I as Truth Am going to Speak as Word, and Shine as Light on Myself as your Way, to give you wisdom in your decisions, direction for your day, which will bring Peace to your minutes and hours, and to your relationships with others.

Call on My Names—I have many more than these.

For everything you need, listen for My Name.

Wow, God, that’s…I don’t know what to say about that.

Anytime you don’t know what to say, look to Me to be Word.

Ok, so when I need…

When you need anything. For everything you need, I Am.

You miss your earthly father especially today. And I Am Abba, Father, Daddy. You miss your Mom, and I Am Bread who nourishes you and your truest cheerleader, saying, Well Done, and encouraging you along the way. You are never alone, not one of you. I Am—always, everywhere and for all time.

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At Table

Lord, it is Christmas Eve morning. I and the rest of the western world are about ready to go into overdrive, all in the name of celebrating Your birth. Supposedly. You had such humble beginnings; all this must make You sad, right?

Revelry and festivity aren’t the issues. My first earthly miracle was to transform water into wine, good wine, the best vintage wine, at a wedding feast, remember? My feasting and association with those of lesser social and spiritual status deeply offended the Pharisees, remember? Don’t be a Pharisee in your thinking. Don’t honor asceticism for its own sake. What did I preach against and warn against most during My time on earth? Greed. Selfishness. Prejudice. Pride.

What did I applaud? Sharing with others, especially those less fortunate. Forgiving others, especially those that seemed to deserve it the least. Welcoming others, especially those rejected by the prideful and arrogant. Loving others, especially those outside your own circles of interest.

Of all the laws in place at the time, which did I say were most important? The Love Laws. Love God, Love Neighbor, and yes, Love Yourself. But notice the order. To love someone means to consider that person’s needs, wants, likes, and dislikes; to pay attention to what that person says and does; to spend time with that person. Love God First isn’t a command born out of Divine ego, as we have talked about before. I ask humanity to Love God first, because each of you was made for Love. Each of you was made for a relationship that is pure and empowering, that is free and fulfilling, in every way. That Love relationship is found first in Me, in connecting with Me. I ask you to Love Others second, because the natural outcome of loving is giving and sharing, and you need tangible, physical, human ways to do that. Once you are ignited by Love, by My Love, then that Love needs outlets for expression beyond the times of prayerful conversation we have. You hear Me, but in your heart and mind. You see My Loving Hand at work in your world and in your circumstances, but you cannot yet see Me face to face. You touch My world but your hands have not embraced Me yet. So you need outlets and expressions for this new capacity you have for Love, and that is where your families, your friends, your neighbors, and yes, the whole world of strangers, comes in. This is the arena of loving others.

I ask you to Love Yourself alongside Loving Neighbor, Loving Others. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself. I make those two equal. Ah, you never thought of that! You tend to rank them 1, 2, 3. No, it is really, A, and B/B. God, and Neighbor/Self. I phrased this way because so many reverse the order, putting themselves first, a select group of others second, and Me last — if at all. But cutting yourself off from Love’s source soon dries up the well. Soon you have no love to give and share. The result of that is not only a selfish life, but a bitter, withered, shriveled life, a life in which people also neglect themselves, neglect their health, their body, their emotional life, and their spirit.

So by all means feast! Be festive! Be merry! If you do your feasting and revelry in My Name, in My Spirit, and AS IF I were present (which of course I Am), you will never make a wrong choice, say the wrong thing, or have regrets on the day after the holiday.  Just set a place for Me at your Table, not just tonight, not just tomorrow, but every day of your life.

 

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Impact and Connection

Lord, are my days with wildlife numbered? Over?

Why would you say that? Or think that?

Because You said not to do natural history.

Whoa, wait, stop. I asked you to choose what kind of impact you want your work to have, and you chose the most spiritual impact. What makes you think wildlife isn’t a huge part of that?

It is? I mean, is it? Can it be?

Why not?

I don’t know, I thought I just needed these dreamy landscapes.

Serenity is important. Calm, quiet, peaceful is important. But not as ends in themselves, as a condition in which Connection happens.

Everyone else does wildlife primarily for natural history. For life-list bird sightings. For documenting behavior, nesting, feeding, breeding, whatever. You started there but you’ve moved beyond natural history. Natural history became a bridge, to the New Country.

You mean Eve’s Eden, the way I envision, the way I imagine? How can the images I make be different enough?

They already are. They already are because you say “please”—you say, “thank you”—you say, “I love you”, and you mean it. You’ve taught others this, but increasingly your work will have a sensitivity and connection others lack. You can’t help it; it is who you are and it is your destiny.

So…I am not wrong to long for impact?

Is a candle wrong for wanting to blaze, for wanting someone to come and light its wick? You were made to embrace the natural world, and bridge to Me.

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Calling on Angels

NOTE: This particular entry dates back to December 2015. I felt led to post it tonight upon hearing of a domestic shooting in another state. After the word “bombing” in my original opening sentence, I added the words “shooting” and “attack,” after praying about altering the original entry. I offer it tonight as my prayer and intention for peace.

Oh, God, another bombing (shooting/attack). Please, please, please, please, please. Please.

Don’t worry and call it prayer. Don’t fear and call it wisdom. Don’t hate and call it justice.

Take a deep breath, and pray for My will, which is Peace, to be done.

Take another deep breath, and pray for My Kingdom, which is Love, to come.

Take yet one more deep breath, and pray for My Angels, who are heralds of Hope, to be once again seen, once again heard, once again felt, and once again followed.

Ssshhhh. You can cry; I Am crying too. What? You think I don’t weep with those who weep? I don’t ask you to do anything I Myself Am not already doing. Yes, I will wipe away all tears—but not today. Not as long as there is still grief and sorrow in your world. But bring those tears to Me. Don’t let what you see and hear make you bitter. This is hard work, to remain connected to Me as the Source of Love and Goodness when voices all around you begin to shout louder and louder in rage and revenge. That is what leads to war, you know—those voices. So cry if you must, but cry for peace.